We know that Unity is working towards bringing their editor over to Linux, and this little update on their official website slipped past me.
Previously the only real word we had was a developers personal blog, but having it on the official Unity website does seem a little more concrete now.
The main thing here is that Linux support for the editor may never be official, that's how they are wording it right now anyway. They did say this is how the Linux runtime (Unity games on Linux) started, so hopefully if enough people use the editor it will become a proper part of the Unity family like the runtime.
They also included some screenshots of Unity running on Ubuntu's Unity (more on the official post):
Exciting times to be a developer on Linux, so many choices!
Having the Unity editor on Linux, and the OpenGL improvements to come is going to make Unity a mighty fine option. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Previously the only real word we had was a developers personal blog, but having it on the official Unity website does seem a little more concrete now.
QuoteThe Linux port of Unity currently lives in an internally ‘forked’ repo. Our plan is currently to prepare an early experimental build for you from this fork (that is kept more or less in sync with Unity’s mainline development branch) that you will be able to try out. Based on how that experiment goes, we’ll figure out if it’s something we can sustain as an official port alongside our Mac and Windows editors (the Linux runtime support was also released as a preview initially, due to concerns about support and the fragmentation of Linux distributions, and the support burden turned out to be very low, despite a very significant percentage of Linux games on Steam being made with Unity, so I’m hopeful; we’ll have to see how it goes).
The main thing here is that Linux support for the editor may never be official, that's how they are wording it right now anyway. They did say this is how the Linux runtime (Unity games on Linux) started, so hopefully if enough people use the editor it will become a proper part of the Unity family like the runtime.
They also included some screenshots of Unity running on Ubuntu's Unity (more on the official post):
Exciting times to be a developer on Linux, so many choices!
Having the Unity editor on Linux, and the OpenGL improvements to come is going to make Unity a mighty fine option. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
0 Likes
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
19 comments
The problem with this is that unlike with UE4 Unity doesn't give the community source code access. So the community can't help with this effort. If they decide this isn't worth pursuing internally it dies. If somone else then wants to pick it up, they can't. So lets hope it doesn't come go that.
But that bit about support costs on Linux is VERY VERY interesting!
But that bit about support costs on Linux is VERY VERY interesting!
1 Likes, Who?
Another problems is the sub-standard performance of Unity games on Linux. Wouldn't a Linux developer choose an engine that runs better on their own platform?
0 Likes
I think the performance depends too much in the developer fine tuning the game in Linux. For example, Android Assault Cactus (the standard in how a Early Access should be in Steam) is a Unity game and the performance is very good.
But another big problem in Unity is the control backend, witch is very bad and relies too much in the developer doing hacks to get things done. AAC for example, got issues with controls when they upgraded to Unity 5 some time ago. To me, a good engine should handle the very basic thing as controls in a way that the developers shouldn't have to worry about it.
But another big problem in Unity is the control backend, witch is very bad and relies too much in the developer doing hacks to get things done. AAC for example, got issues with controls when they upgraded to Unity 5 some time ago. To me, a good engine should handle the very basic thing as controls in a way that the developers shouldn't have to worry about it.
1 Likes, Who?
Raven67854 Jul 12, 2015
Quoting: melkemindAnother problems is the sub-standard performance of Unity games on Linux. Wouldn't a Linux developer choose an engine that runs better on their own platform?
Unity Technologies is in the process of changing the way they handle their GL render by unifying it some. Also they're adding in GL4.5 support which will only be supported on Windows/Linux. Something not even Unreal has. As UE4 only supports up to GL4.1.
0 Likes
Quoting: Raven67854Quoting: melkemindAnother problems is the sub-standard performance of Unity games on Linux. Wouldn't a Linux developer choose an engine that runs better on their own platform?
Unity Technologies is in the process of changing the way they handle their GL render by unifying it some. Also they're adding in GL4.5 support which will only be supported on Windows/Linux. Something not even Unreal has. As UE4 only supports up to GL4.1.
Indeed, that is something I look forward to. I do hope some developers update to the Unity versions that will have the new GL render in like some are doing with Unity 5 now. I fear it's a quite a while away though, and not many developers are even going to Unity 5 even now.
0 Likes
Raven67854 Jul 12, 2015
Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: Raven67854Quoting: melkemindAnother problems is the sub-standard performance of Unity games on Linux. Wouldn't a Linux developer choose an engine that runs better on their own platform?
Unity Technologies is in the process of changing the way they handle their GL render by unifying it some. Also they're adding in GL4.5 support which will only be supported on Windows/Linux. Something not even Unreal has. As UE4 only supports up to GL4.1.
Indeed, that is something I look forward to. I do hope some developers update to the Unity versions that will have the new GL render in like some are doing with Unity 5 now. I fear it's a quite a while away though, and not many developers are even going to Unity 5 even now.
The new render is already an option on Windows. Should be out by end of the year for everyone. Of course when games will support it? Haha no idea :(.
0 Likes
Distance is now updating to Unity 5. I don't know anything about the technical details, but you can try the experimental build. I did, however, decide to test it on both Linux and Windows. With high settings (and a few on medium) with real-time reflections off, I was getting between 39 and 64 fps on Linux. With the same machine on Windows, everything maxed (except real-time reflections on medium), I was consistently over 100 fps.
The question, as stated above of course, is whether that's something the devs themselves can fix or if it's something that needs fixing in Unity. One could blame it on the drivers, OpenGL or Linux itself, but that doesn't hold weight when you see how well certain more graphically demanding games run on it.
Anyway, maybe having more devs who are familiar with Linux working on Unity games will help educate people on how to improve performance on it.
The question, as stated above of course, is whether that's something the devs themselves can fix or if it's something that needs fixing in Unity. One could blame it on the drivers, OpenGL or Linux itself, but that doesn't hold weight when you see how well certain more graphically demanding games run on it.
Anyway, maybe having more devs who are familiar with Linux working on Unity games will help educate people on how to improve performance on it.
0 Likes
unity5 is performing pretty good imo.. ofc it could be better,but its decent enough already.
for example when Rust went from unity 4.6 to 5 the performance boost was almost 2x + also the visuals got upgraded a lot
Rust actually runs 60+ fps on all highest settings most of the time.. except when lots of buildings nearby.. and it looks pretty good also
same thing happened with Beasts of Prey... nearly 2x perf boost (this game seem to be abandoned now though)
this high perf boost with unity5 might come with the thing that im on AMD CPU.. which is known to suck at singlecore performance and unity4.x games all used only 1 core, while unity5 games use 2 or more cores.
Last edited by Xpander on 12 July 2015 at 4:03 pm UTC
for example when Rust went from unity 4.6 to 5 the performance boost was almost 2x + also the visuals got upgraded a lot
Rust actually runs 60+ fps on all highest settings most of the time.. except when lots of buildings nearby.. and it looks pretty good also
same thing happened with Beasts of Prey... nearly 2x perf boost (this game seem to be abandoned now though)
this high perf boost with unity5 might come with the thing that im on AMD CPU.. which is known to suck at singlecore performance and unity4.x games all used only 1 core, while unity5 games use 2 or more cores.
Last edited by Xpander on 12 July 2015 at 4:03 pm UTC
0 Likes
StianTheDark Jul 12, 2015
I would be excited, but Godot is so amazing that I forgot Unity even existed. There's no chance in me using Unity anyway due to it's closed nature.
0 Likes
ProfessorKaos64 Jul 12, 2015
It's quite exciting to see these engines support Linux in varying aspects, some totally, some partly. It may take some time, but Linux gaming is definitely shaping up more and more these days.
0 Likes
Quoting: GuestAndroid Assault Cactus is indeed awesome and once they finally release controller support for Linux it will be a great "console" experience as wel
The controller support is working. I just played it with the Xbox 360 controller. The Unity 5 upgrade got some controllers not working but you can play it with a joypad right now.
0 Likes
[quote=MGOid]
Last edited by kozec on 12 July 2015 at 6:12 pm UTC
Quoting: GuestThe controller support is working. I just played it with the Xbox 360 controller. The Unity 5 upgrade got some controllers not working but you can play it with a joypad right now.Xbox 360 controller is not controller, despite its name. Controller is something that communicates using HID standard and many Unity games have problem with those.
Last edited by kozec on 12 July 2015 at 6:12 pm UTC
0 Likes
Quoting: melkemindAnother problems is the sub-standard performance of Unity games on Linux. Wouldn't a Linux developer choose an engine that runs better on their own platform?
Unity 5 performance is actually ok on Linux. Hate of Fate for examples runs perfectly on my aging hardware
0 Likes
Quoting: BillNyeTheBlackGuyQuoting: melkemindAnother problems is the sub-standard performance of Unity games on Linux. Wouldn't a Linux developer choose an engine that runs better on their own platform?
Unity 5 performance is actually ok on Linux. Hate of Fate for examples runs perfectly on my aging hardware
I never suggested performance wasn't "ok". Every Unity-based game I've played except for Son of Nor has been adequate and playable. I just said performance is significantly lower than the same games on Windows.
For now that might be acceptable to lifelong Linux users, but I know people who are seriously considering switching to SteamOS when it's released under the assumption that it will be a better experience than Windows (especially with Valve showing Left 4 Dead 2 running so much better on Linux). Those new users will have no reason to stick around if they find most games run better on Windows, even if it's not the fault of SteamOS.
I think the problem is definitely fixable. The Unity devs just have to be willing.
1 Likes, Who?
As a gaming platform, Windows have its annoyances. The updates are painfully slow, and can interrupt you in the middle of a game. The USB accessories (mouse, keyboard, joypad) take a long time to install if you change the port. And the startup (at the point you can open a program, like Windows Explorer or Firefox) with a good anti-virus software take more than one minute if you don't use a SSD. It is even worse if you tune Steam to autostart.
Linux is so much better in these regards, but it will not be enough if people using modest hardware find out that the games they play in Windows are unplayable in Linux with the same hardware.
Linux is so much better in these regards, but it will not be enough if people using modest hardware find out that the games they play in Windows are unplayable in Linux with the same hardware.
1 Likes, Who?
ElectricPrism Jul 13, 2015
Yeah I would give Unity 5 a run on Linux. Its been a few years since I've done GameDev, I certainly considered Unity until I learned I would have to run it in WINE - and lets just say that developing on Windows is a chore without a tabbed File Browser, and copying files crashing, not to mention the -"meh"- speed of the OS even when on a SSD.
Unity on Linux would really be the logical next iteration as Linux has a much greater die-hard developer base than Mac or Windows.
Unity on Linux would really be the logical next iteration as Linux has a much greater die-hard developer base than Mac or Windows.
0 Likes
I have to say I never had too many problems withs Unity games on my Linux setup, certainly nothing that ever stopped me playing something due to artifacts or especially poor performance.
Whether that is because so long as the game is smooth for me I dont care how it stacks against other platforms or not is open for debate. But any improvements that can be gained on the Unity engine in Linux are always welcome.
Whether that is because so long as the game is smooth for me I dont care how it stacks against other platforms or not is open for debate. But any improvements that can be gained on the Unity engine in Linux are always welcome.
0 Likes
[quote=Guest]
On Linux, afaik, driver for XBox pad emulates hid/joydev device, so it shouldn't make any difference. But many games are still doing gamepad support wrong, for example by looking for USB device IDs and disabling gamepad support if XBox pad is not there. Or just by hardcoding buttons to XBox pad rather unusual button mapping. I'm not sure if Unity somehow helps to do it right, but it doesn't looks like that from what I saw :(
Last edited by kozec on 13 July 2015 at 1:55 pm UTC
Quoting: kozecI'm afraid it will not. Or, rather, it is already standardized; Every single controller on this world uses HID, that can be easily queried using SDL. Except MS's one. Now, this may sounds like bashing, but Microsoft really does what it can to get everyone to support XInput and not HID (or DInput on Windows), what, in turn, makes everyone else's gamepads unusable with Windows. No idea what's their purpose...Quoting: MGOidQuoting: GuestThe controller support is working. I just played it with the Xbox 360 controller. The Unity 5 upgrade got some controllers not working but you can play it with a joypad right now.Xbox 360 controller is not controller, despite its name. Controller is something that communicates using HID standard and many Unity games have problem with those.
This explains a lot. I assume it's because Unity was compatible with the weird external out-of-kernel 360 controller driver, instead of interfacing with the standard input that Xorg and everything else listens to? They really need to utilize the same method the OS uses to communicate with the controllers.
On Linux, afaik, driver for XBox pad emulates hid/joydev device, so it shouldn't make any difference. But many games are still doing gamepad support wrong, for example by looking for USB device IDs and disabling gamepad support if XBox pad is not there. Or just by hardcoding buttons to XBox pad rather unusual button mapping. I'm not sure if Unity somehow helps to do it right, but it doesn't looks like that from what I saw :(
Last edited by kozec on 13 July 2015 at 1:55 pm UTC
0 Likes
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me